Printed circuit board carriers or racks are used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards themselves as well as during assembly of components to the printed circuit boards. Conventionally, printed circuit board racks store printed circuit boards either vertically or horizontally and the racks are not adjustable for the very purpose of providing a firm base for support of the printed circuit boards during processing, so that tipping does not occur. Further, such racks lack the ability to facilitate handling and do not have handles which extend at least the width of the board being transported to facilitate ease in pick-up and deposit of the racks during a station change. Such racks known to the applicant do not have means for interengaging other racks to form stacked arrays or facilitate the enlargement of the rack to handle multiple printed circuit boards particularly when the printed circuit boards are to be maintained horizontally on the rack.
Typically, such racks are constituted by an integrated structure of the form of two longitudinally extending and laterally spaced parallel bars bearing a plurality of slots or lateral notches within the upper faces of the bars so as to receive the bottom edges of generally vertically upright printed circuit boards which are maintained in parallel positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,550 teaches the use of a rack for assembling apparatus for electronic modules including printed circuit boards. Such rack permits the electronic components such as resistors to be mounted via their wires in the assembly and by soldering held to the printed circuit boards. After assembly the rack or rack components are disassembled from the circuit boards bearing the components.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,193 teaches a frame for positioning a number of electrical connectors for use with an automatic wire-wrapping machine. Thus the frame functions as a jig in the manufacturing or assembly process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,046 constitutes top and bottom members integrally molded from plastic material having an elongated base with upstanding side walls and two sets of cantilevered ribs or bars which are separated by a distance less than the thickness of the workpiece to be slidably inserted therein and with the rib structure tending to block or impede withdrawal towards the end facilitating insertion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,296 teaches a printed circuit board assembly fixture to facilitate assembly of a multiple number of printed circuit boards at the same time and comprises an angular support frame so as to enable the user to work at a comfortable angle on a work bench.
As may be appreciated from the above references, printed circuit racks may function as jigs for facilitating the manufacture and assembly of electronic components. The printed circuit boards are designed for particular functions required by the particular components being assembled or the completed electronic apparatus. In the manufacture of printed circuit boards or in the processing of such boards to facilitate the connecting of electronic components thereto, the printed circuit board rack carrying single or multiple printed circuit boards in either horizontal or vertical positions must permit and facilitate basic manufacturing operations such as baking, dipping, spraying, and assembly and fixing of electronic components to the printed circuit board or boards themselves.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved printed circuit board racks which may function as a fixed rack or as a movable carrier, which may support a plurality of printed circuit boards in a near vertical position or one or more printed circuit boards in a horizontal position which, when employed as a carrier in the transport of the printed circuit boards, facilitates the handling of the carrier, which facilitates manufacturing process operations of the board or components carried thereby, which is readily adjustable to accommodate printed circuit boards of various sizes, which is simple in design, inexpensive, provides minimal contact between the rack and the printed circuit board or boards and which is rugged, easy to use, easy to pick up, chemical and heat resistant, and effective during transportation of the printed circuit boards.